Editorial - Fall 2017

Welcome to the Autumn/Fall 2017 issue but first an apology. You may have noticed we are a little later than usual in getting this issue out, in fact into winter, and we have no excuses other than most of the editorial team being unwell in one way or another. Hopefully the content will more than make up for it

In this issue we again bring out our TrulyFascinating award for those gadgets that stand out from the crowd. This month something that teaches children the basic skills of computing in a fun way nd a remarkable speaker.

Ruth visited IFA the big tech show in Berlin and has a lot to cover from there as well as a lot of reviews.

Finally Richard gives us a whole gamut of reviews and features including a follow up to last issue WakaWaka review having use it in anger on a long trip. If you read his review carefully you might be able to win your own.

This issue is our post-IFA special. IFA is a massive Consumer Electronics Event held in Berlin every year where tech companies announce new products and show us the best of what they have. I mentioned our 3D printing favourites XYZ had something special and their multi-colour 3D printer was certainly one of our best in show.

My editorials are not normally campaigning but a conversation at IFA has set real bee in my bonnet. It was with an Electric bicycle manufacturer who was having to put pedals on his e-bike to make them street legal in the UK - pedal bicycles with electric power assist are allowed to be used in the same way as straight pedal cycles are but take the pedals off and they are treated as motor vehicles and due to our antiquated laws not licensable.

Now I kind of get the argument against people being able to ride in the street on electric motorbikes without a license but when a device is limited to the same speed as I can pedal I seriously don't understand why it cannot occupy the cycle lane. I get why segways etc. should not be on the footpath but again if speed-limited I see no reason why they shouldn't be allowed in cycle lanes. We are trying to keep cars out of city centres for very good reason. These electric devices are a great final mile solution especially for the less mobile amongst us and it is about time we encouraged rather than discouraged their use.

To me this was summed up by the demo we had of Segway's powered push scooter which worked extremely well at IFA and also the Xiaomi Scooters I saw on almost every street when in Singapore recently. These latter were available to hire by the minute much like London's Boris Bikes and were probably better than cycling in the humidity. I know we need to encourage exercise and pedals might be better for that but holding your body balanced on one of these still helps.